Polaris F9550 Sport Robotic In-Ground Pool Cleaner Review

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The Polaris F9550 Sport Robotic is a compact, sporty looking robotic pool cleaner that is designed to clean in-ground pools of all types including fiberglass. This model comes with several advanced handy features that make it particularly easy and convenient to use, however, we discovered a few drawbacks with this product.

Several innovative features incorporated in the Polaris F9550 work together to give this robotic pool cleaner its superior cleaning properties.

The 4-wheel drive helps the device power through the pool floor effortlessly and the Aqua-Trax tires help it glide over any surface. Its powerful rear water propulsion system makes it easy for the cleaner to pick up debris from hard to reach places, including tight corners and under the stairs.

Picking up larger debris without reducing the suction power is made possible with the Vortex Vacuum Technology. This is a huge improvement over many other models in which the suction power is compromised whenever any large debris is picked up.

The ActivMotion Sensor technology is a brilliant addition. With this technology incorporated within it, the Polaris robotic cleaner navigates the pool smartly. It senses where it has been and never goes over the same spot twice in any one cycle. You’ll be particularly thankful for this feature if you have a large pool.

The Polaris works separately from the pool filter system so there no question of the system clogging. The device takes about two to three hours to clean pool of average size.

One of the most notable downsides of this pool cleaner is that the cord does not have a swivel device to control it. Without a swivel device, the cord keeps getting tangled around the device. Every time this happens you have to stop and disentangle the cleaner. This can get quit irksome after a while.

Another drawback, according to some users, is that the water output is located at the rear end of the cleaner, so when it is climbing up the walls, the thrust that it needs to push it upwards pushes some of the dirt back out. This dirt then sinks to the bottom and settles on the pool floor, requiring another round of cleaning.

It is easy to put into the pool and just as easy to take out of the pool – the pool cleaner comes with a handy transport caddy so you can easily wheel it from its storage place to the edge of the pool and drop it in. When the cleaning cycle is complete, you press the lift button and the device moves towards the edge of the pool and climbs up the wall. You just reach in and lift it out.

It has excellent cleaning capabilities – with its 4-wheel drive, AquaTrax tires and Vortex Vacuum Technology, the 9550 is capable of moving easily across any type of pool terrain and climbing all walls and steps, picking up debris and cleaning the surfaces as it moves along. Its solid-blade scrubbing brush does a great job of scrubbing the tiles at the water line.

It is energy efficient – you would normally expect the energy consumption to go up significantly when you use a device as powerful as this, but the Polaris 9550 is surprisingly energy efficient. It consumes only 150 watts of electricity as compared to the 2000 watts consumed by older pool cleaning systems for the same amount of time. That’s more than 10 times less energy consumption.

It has a 7-day programmable timer – If you hate having to fiddle around with settings every time you want to clean the pool, you’ll love the smart 7-day programmable timer feature. You simply set it to clean for 7 days depending on your usage and cleaning needs and that’s it. You don’t have to think about it till the next week.

It comes with an extra-large filter canister – the capacity of the filter canister is almost four times larger than that of other pool cleaners so you don’t need to empty it out as often. Moreover, it has a dirty canister indicator so a quick look at the indicator will let you know when it is time to remove and clean it. Cleaning the canister is easy too. Just open the lid at the top of the cleaner and remove the debris.

It comes with a motion-sensing handheld remote – if you want to control exactly where your robotic pool cleaner goes, you’ll love this handheld remote controller. You simply tilt it in the directly you want it to go and the device will do just that.

Pros of the Polaris 9550

Outstanding cleaning capabilities

Energy efficient

Smart navigation so the entire pool surface gets cleaned without going over the same areas repeatedly

EasyLift System makes it easy to get out of the pool after it is done cleaning

Most users are happy with the Polaris 9550 Sport Robotic In-Ground Pool Cleaner. The features that the majority of users have praised are its excellent cleaning, ease of use, low energy consumption, and smart navigation capability.

However, there are a few who have experienced a number of problems with this device. One user has complained about the cleaner’s ability to climb and clean the walls. Another user has complained that their cleaner keeps getting stuck at the stairs every time and even the remote cannot get it get unstuck. Every time they free the device, it goes back to the same spot and gets stuck again.

Is It For You?

If you are looking for a technologically advanced, feature-filled pool cleaner and don’t mind paying a higher price for all of the add-ons, the Polaris 9550 Sport Robotic In-Ground Pool Cleaner may be just right for you.

3 Comments

NewYorkPhil August 21, 2017, 4:16 pm

First time pool owner here! We bought this robotic pool cleaner based on a combination of the review here and a recommendation from our doctor strangely enough! In the long run we worked out it was much cheaper to buy this than pay for the pool guy to come round every couple of weeks. We’re very pleased with the F9550 and have recommended it to several of our friends and neighbors.

Awesome review by the way. We have a 30ft in-ground pool, and are looking at getting our first robotic pool cleaner. We have been reading your reviews and are torn between the Dolphin Nautilus Plus and this Polaris. Which would you recommend?